This investigation examined whether Iranian or Iranian Americans of either Islamic or Jewish religious self-identifications significantly differ in their cultural adaptation as demonstrated by their orientation toward the Iranian culture, orientation toward the U.S. culture, multicultural (Iranian-U.S.) orientation, stress related to immersing oneself in the American culture, and stress related to resistance encountered in the American culture. Years of residence in the United States was entered as a covariate. To conduct this investigation, 107 participants were administered the Cultural Lifestyle Inventory (Mendoza, 1989), which was adapted for use with members of the Iranian culture (Ghaffarian, 1998), and the Kerendi-Kadkhoda Acculturative Stress Scale (Kerendi, 1998). The results of the multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) indicate that religious identification does significantly influence cultural adaptation. Participants who self-identified as Islamic reported significantly higher Iranian orientation of acculturation while participants who self-identified as Jewish reported significantly higher U.S. orientation of acculturation. Furthermore, participants who self-identified as Islamic reported significantly higher resistance based acculturative stress when compared with their Jewish counterparts. This study revealed the relevance of considering intracultural differences such as religious identification among Iranian immigrants and Iranian Americans. © 2012 American Psychological Association.

Therapy Emigration Acculturative stress Acculturation Iranian

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